In recent years, medical images of patients have been rapidly digitized. For example, affected parts are imaged by a CR (Computed Radiography) device, a CT (Computed Tomography) device, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) device, and so on. Image data of digitized medical images (hereinafter, will be called medical image data) is stored and managed in picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) with patient information, examination information, and so on.
Further, medical records (charts) on patient medical examinations conducted by doctors have been shifted from paper charts to electronic medical records (EMRs). EMR data of digitized medical records is prepared in client terminals installed in, for example, reception desks, clinical departments, nurses' stations, and pharmacies, and then the EMR data is stored and managed in an electronic medical record (EMR) system.
In 1999, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (then) issued a notice allowing storage of medical records in electronic media. At that time, a guideline for EMRs required three conditions: authenticity, readability, and preservability. Thus, the contents of EMR data of EMRs cannot be altered or tampered in view of authenticity.
Hence, EMR data needs to be stored in a write-once (Direct Read After Write) optical disc without being recorded as rewritable data. Medical image data is optionally updated for image processing during reuse for observing a patient's condition, education, clinical training, researches, and so on, and thus the medical image data needs to be stored in a rewritable optical disc.
In response to the need for digitization, as illustrated in FIG. 18, a hospital LAN 2 in medical practice connects medical testing apparatuses, client terminals 6 in clinical departments, nurses' stations, and so on, and a network attached storage 59 serving as a file server, enabling the following operations:
In this case, personal information including a patient's name in a diagnosis has been written as EMR data in an electronic medical record (EMR) system 60. Medical image data of a test conducted on a patient by a medical testing apparatus 4 in a diagnosis has been written in an image server 61 in relation to the EMR data.
First, a doctor (hereinafter, including a radiologist) observes medical image data displayed on the image viewer screen of the client terminal 6 (image diagnosis and interpretation).
The doctor then performs image processing, e.g., gradation processing or addition of annotation data on the medical image data displayed on the image viewer screen.
The doctor then pastes the image-processed medical image data displayed on the image viewer screen onto the screen of an EMR by dragging and dropping. Specifically, the image-processed medical image data is converted to general-purpose image data (e.g., JPEG) having low resolution and a small volume, and then the data is pasted onto the screen of the EMR.
The doctor then examines a patient while referring to the medical image data displayed on the image viewer screen, and creates medical record data on the screen of the EMR. The doctor then stores the medical record data in the electronic medical record (EMR) system 60 along with the pasted general-purpose image data on the screen of the EMR.
Moreover, according to the progress of a patient's condition, the doctor refers to past medical record data stored in the electronic medical record (EMR) system 60 and general-purpose image data corresponding to the medical record data in the image server 61 of a picture archiving and communication system. Medical image data corresponding to the past general-purpose image data displayed on the screen of the EMR is displayed on the image viewer screen, and then the data may be stored again after being subjected to different image processing from that of the past reference (For example, see Patent Literature 1).
In preparation for failures such as damages on the image server 61 and the electronic medical record (EMR) system 60, medical image data is duplicated and stored on a rewritable optical disc set in an optical disc drive 62 of the image server 61. Furthermore, EMR data is duplicated and stored on a write-once optical disc set in an optical disc drive 63 of the electronic medical record (EMR) system 60.
Patent Literature 2 describes a hybrid optical disc including a rewritable recording layer and a write-once recording layer.